The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) launched the Girls’ and Women’s Initiative to spur advancements in women’s and girls’ education prompted by strong evidence of the impact of girls’ primary school completion on long-term social and economic development. A research programme supported by the initiative in the Terai region of Nepal attempts to find out if increasing women’s literacy skills through non-formal, basic education improves women’s social and economic development.

In Nepal the USAID-supported Girls’ and Women’s Education Policy Research Activity (GWE-PRA) investigated the impact of two integrated literacy programmes by examining changes among women in the following indicators of social and economic status and development:

• literacy/education level
• health knowledge and practice
• participation in income-earning activities
• political awareness and participation
• community participation and
• children’s education.

Research was conducted over a three-year period and results were compared with studies of women that had not had literacy training.

The significant input into curriculum development, training and support from the international donor community has led to a significant increase in women’s status and development. The researchers make the assumption that this impacts positively on a country’s development as a whole. Women that undertook the programme:

• are more aware of health and reproductive issues, political affairs and the importance of children’s education
• are more likely to participate in income generating projects, political elections, their children’s education and community activities
• have greater literacy skills.

Researchers also found that a number of factors increased the chances of women staying in the programme, such as being older and having taken part in previous programmes. However, women with lower levels of social economic status tended to drop out of the programmes at a higher rate than other women, which is a worrying finding as this is the primary group that the programmes are designed to serve. Increasing financial and time costs mean that they are more likely to miss classes and eventually drop out

Because of the significant increase in women’s development at relatively low cost, governments, donors, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) should prioritise their goals and target resources towards women’s literacy programmes. Further implications for policy include:

• placing greater emphasis on the importance of children’s education, as well as finding ways in which women can become involved in improving their children’s education, rather than focusing on aspects where women’s development is not significantly improved
• strengthening the connection with children’s education by linking literacy programmes directly with formal schools, involving literacy class participants in Parent Teacher Associations, or in multi-generational programmes.
• giving greater priority to income-earning activities either by adding additional components to the curricula or by channelling participants who have completed literacy programmes into income-earning programmes.

Source(s):
'A Longitudinal Study of the Effect of Integrated Literacy and Basic Education Programs on Women’s Participation in Social and Economic Development in Nepal', Girls' and Womens' Education Policy Research Activity, by Shirley Burchfield et al December 2002

Funded by: The United States Agency for International Development and the Office of Women and Development (WID)

id21 Research Highlight: 29 October 2004

Further Information:
Shirley Burchfield
World Education
44 Farnsworth Street
Boston MA 02210-1211
USA

Tel: +1 (617) 482 9485
Fax: +1 (617) 482 0617
Contact the contributor: sburchfield@worlded.org

World Education, USA

Other related links:
'Are literacy classes working for women in Mali?'

'Reading between the lines: why literacy for women?'

'Poor return on investment? Why are literacy programmes failing to reach the poor?'

'Why eat green cucumbers at the time of dying?: women’s literacy and development in Nepal' from ELDIS

'Backward and forward linkages that strengthen primary education' from ELDIS

'Gender and Development' from the World Bank

'The economic role of women in agricultural and rural development:promoting income-generating activities' from the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA)